Kohlrabi
A very detailed and accurate approach is required to grow this delicate vegetable crop.
Kohlrabi will grow at its best in fertile soils, prepared in a careful way.
Varieties that produce the finest and tastiest kohlrabi are chosen. The kohlrabi seed is a very delicate seed, requiring the seeds to be sown extremely carefully one by one. Seeds are sown accurately spaced apart and at an even depth to ensure the kohlrabi grows quickly.
Kohlrabi is sown from April right through to the end of June. Sowing takes place every week to make sure that when the harvest is reached, every week there are fresh kohlrabi reaching the optimum time to be harvested.
While the kohlrabi are starting to grow, a special cover of fine mesh is placed over the ground to prevent insects from eating the freshly emerging leaves of kohlrabi. By using the covers the kohlrabi need no sprays of insecticide to stay protected and be able to grow healthily.
Kohlrabi is ready to harvest when they reach a certain size, not too large or they will become tough and woody. They must be harvested when young and small, approaching the size of a tennis ball, to be at their very best. The kohlrabi will have taken 70 to 80 days to reach harvest.
The kohlrabi need a special type of harvester to collect the crop. The harvester needs to carefully scoop the kohlrabi up from just above the ground where they grow, and carry them up a conveyor to a trailer, before being taken back to the farm to be washed clean, ready to sell.